Chapter 6
The Hope that Endures
Pearl Buck wrote: “To eat bread without hope is still slowly to starve to death.”
But no one needs to starve. When people come to Christ, they receive forgiveness, life, and a relationship with God.
Paul put it this way: “To whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (colossians 1:27).
It is the hope of glory because we are His and He is ours. In the safety of that relationship, He expresses His hope in us—a hope rooted in the reality of eternal life—so that we can face life in a way that honors Him and helps us.
Consider why He came:
When the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life (titus 3:4–7).
It is God’s kindness and love that sent Christ to rescue us from our sin and from ourselves, so that we might have “the hope of eternal life” (v. 7).
That promise can be yours by turning to Christ, confessing your sins and wrongdoings, and accepting the forgiveness He purchased for you—and the hope that comes with it. This is the promise to those… “who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God” (1 peter 1:21).
If you already know Christ, how real is His hope to you? Hope is the wonderful, grace–filled, life–altering reality that enables us to see life through a different window. Hope changes our perspective so dramatically that our entire approach to living will be impacted. Of this, Paul wrote, “For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it” (romans 8:24-25).
There will be times when hope seems elusive, but we can always trust the God of hope. He is there, and His mercy toward us endures forever.
Hope Realized, Fear Banished
As the children of Israel cowered in fear at the shores of the Red Sea, Moses told them, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the LORD” (exodus 14:13). The rest, of course, is history. God send a “strong east wind” that sliced a dry pathway through the sea. Israel escaped, and the Egyptian army drowned as they pursued them. Exodus 15 shares the triumphant song of praise to God for His miraculous deliverance of His people in the face of a seemingly insurmountable problem.
In the face of life’s most difficult circumstances and greatest tragedies, we can trust the Lord. We can persevere in the confident expectation that we are not alone or forgotten. He will never abandon us.
Christ is risen! The God of hope is the One we call our heavenly Father!
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